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Bike Theft Deterrence Initiative

We love our bicycles and we understand how disappointing is to have a bicycle stolen. Over the years though, bike theft has increased dramatically.

we don’t know the exact number of bicycle thefts and few people actually care to report a bike crime to police as most of us think it’s a waste of time, yet unofficial statistics are showing tens of millions of bike crimes happening all over the world.

In Cycling Boom, we think that the solution to bike thefts is not bigger, heavier and stronger chains, locks and whatsoever...

Our conclusion is that the only way to deter bike thefts is to increase the risk of the crime and also eliminate the market for these stolen bikes.

Analyzing the crime, it is obvious that we have a flaw in our perception about it.

Its being naïve to think that the bike crimes happen solely because of the existence of thieves. Its clear that most bike crimes happen because there is a market for stolen bicycles.

So For every bike crime there are at least 2 victims, the one who got a bike stolen and the one who is buying a stolen bike as a used bike. This type of pattern illustrates a concept referred to as a crime multiplier, whereby one offense leads to the commission of several others. Thus, a single bicycle theft does not necessarily equate to just one offense, but may lead to a series of related crimes.

In this pattern one gets a bike stolen, then he or she goes to a flea market or online store and buys a used-bike that is probably stolen from a another peer, and This makes a chain and a paradigm that is infinitely repeated.

Lets face it, if we cyclists don’t care about ourselves, we should not expect others to do so.

We believe that cyclists wouldn’t buy stolen bikes providing that there is an easy way to distinguish them. But unfortunately, as there is no easy way to distinguish stolen bikes, the average person would not perform due diligence to ensure that the bicycle was not stolen. And this makes the sick cycle of bicycle crimes continue… thieves steal our bicycles and sell them to other cyclists who have also had their bicycles stolen … and it makes a good business(100Billion$) for a really risk free crime according to statistics.

In this scenario it’s just cyclists who pay for the thieves’ crimes and also the society which suffers from their activities just because we have not started to work together to put an end to this situation.

Our plan at Cycling Boom is providing an easy way to identify stolen bikes. Along with a free registry system we offer a free metal bicycle tag made of engraved stainless steel for everyone and also under-priced premium designs for those who want to support initiative. This enables us to register our bikes and makes it easier to track the status of the bikes in an online universal bicycle registry system.

By convention these tags would be installed on the top tube or head tube, which is the most visible place on the bike.

Consequently we ask bicycle owners to enter the basic specification of the bike into our online database. It enables cyclists to report bicycle theft whenever it happens without loss of data and it also makes it possible for police and people who are looking for used bicycles to have a tool to check the status of the bikes by knowing the serial number.

We encourage everyone to check this serial number if they ever wanted to buy a second-hand bike.

The more people stop buying stolen bikes, the less would be attractive, bike theft as a business.

One might ask: the thieves are able to break the strongest locks; ain’t that easy for them to remove these bicycle tags either?

The answer is straight forward. Yes, They would be able to remove these tags, as they can already break almost any kind of lock. But the point is that it’s not possible to remove these metal tags without leaving visible scars on the bicycle frame.

So If you noticed a scar on the bike frame??? it is already declaring high probability that the bike is stolen. To make sure you can subsequently check the frame serial number provided by bike producer.

This initiative is based on a moral question: would or wouldn’t a cyclist buy a bike which has a known owner looking for his bike? We believe no cyclist would buy a stolen bicycle, and that’s why we think this may be an efficient way to ruin the market, discourage bike thefts and increase the risk of riding a stolen bike.

Mass adoption is so important to get the best results, so if you like this project you can join us in this tough battle against bike criminals and help by spreading the word, volunteering, and ordering free and premium tags for you, your family and friends.

If you organize bike events or if you own a bicycle shop, you can help by distributing the products and we hope the incentives mentioned above will be a reward in themselves.

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